NASA's Europa Clipper has captured its first image of stars while en route to Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. The image is a mosaic of a star field, taken by the spacecraft's star tracker cameras. These cameras help the orbiter determine its orientation in space, which is crucial for pointing its instruments and communicating with Earth.
The image shows a section of the constellation Corvus, with stars that are 150 to 300 light-years away. The four brightest stars in the image are Alchiba, Algorab, Gienah, and Kraz.
This is an important milestone for the Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030. The spacecraft will conduct a detailed exploration of Europa, searching for signs of life in its potentially habitable ocean.